Oh, hey, look at that: you can buy a Pre now! As of 8:00AM on the East Coast, the phone went on sale at Sprint stores, with Best Buy, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart also retailing the phone today as Saturday dawns across the country. After Sprint's invite only
pre-Pre launch event last night, we still saw plenty of folks lined up outside Sprint's "flagship" New York store in the Flatiron Building before the doors opened. Apparently people started queuing around 5:00AM, with Chris Lee and Randy Williams the first through the door -- replacing a Treo Pro and a HTC Mogul, respectively. Like last night, the process took about 40 minutes, but a lot of that is spent waiting for a small pit crew of Sprint employees to swap over your address book, so if you forgo that we'd say you can be in and out in 30, which should still be plenty of time to savor the moment. Word is that the Flatiron store has about 100 units, but it's clear that inventory varies widely between locations and retailers -- Touchstones seem to be a much rarer commodity.
We'll be checking out some other launches across the country, so stay tuned, and be sure to send in your own pictures and impressions!
Some word from the wilds:
Tipster Brad says that his Best Buy store in Orlando has only 9 Pres available, and they're giving them out one by one on an appointment basis -- he was fourth in line, so he'll be going back at 12:15PM to pick his up. Unfortunately, their Touchstone stock is zero.
Kevin C. Tofel was fourth in line at his local Sprint store, which purportedly had 30 phones in stock, but he picked up the last of the Touchstones.
We just checked in at the Bryant Park Sprint store in New York City, and while Pre inventory is cool, they are all out of Touchstones. We're starting to think the supply of those is quite limited. We also hear that at least one tenacious gentleman got in line at 6:00PM yesterday, and spent the night outside the store in order to get his first.
San Francisco
At about 7:45AM PT, the line around the the 388 Market Street Sprint Store numbered about 15, teetering just barely around a corner. Our first person in line, a self-proclaimed Palm fanatic and future Pre developer, had been out there since 6:00AM, with a chair-clad individual taking up slot number two since 6:30AM.
The vibe here is pretty chill, but everyone seems pretty satisfied with their purchase. The Touchstone doesn't have quite the same story, however. One customer we spoke with said he wasn't getting one because it was "too expensive," and that at $40 he might consider it (the inductive charger now retails for $70). It doesn't look like the line is extending too much at this point.
Thirty minutes after its launch and we're still seeing a line outside -- nothing too big, but noticeable. The catch here is that Sprint is only letting about ten people in at a time -- at least the weather's much nicer here than our East Coast sojourners. By our estimates, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes for each customer to get registered and take their new baby out of here. Hey look, it's Jon Rubinstein, here to see the action for himself -- and of course to show off his personal smartphone. Three guesses what it is.
More celebrity sightings. Here we are with Gizmodo's Brian Lam, lost in deep thought.
We got word that the Castro Street store had a pretty major crowd this morning, so we headed over there to see what was going down. According to one customer who showed up close to 7:15AM this morning, there were about 50 people in line and were told only 25 or so Pres would be in store, with the rest getting on a wait list and possibly getting one later (we heard reports of some stock maybe being moved around the city to accommodate).
Chicago
We sent someone packing over to the store at 1 W. Division Street in Chicago, and the line had started off pretty frigging long, easily outstripping the store's supply of units. 37 folks received numbers, while the rest were told they were welcome to sign up for a waitlist. Those who are out of luck are being told to "wait and see" if there are any extras -- we figure they stocked a few extra in case someone wanted to buy two -- and they say it's plausible more units will arrive later today. No guarantees, though. Oh, and they're all out of Touchstones, too -- in fact, we were told that all of Chicago is currently out of them, and that they're on order.
Line-waiters were bonding, exchanging stories of their tribulations in the hours and minutes leading up to their purchase. We got the sense that most folks here were existing Sprint customers, but activations were still taking about ten minutes or longer; there were three employees on duty, so needless to say, the line wasn't moving particularly fast.
This is a bin that we've playfully termed "The Bin."
Buyers were in no rush to leave the store after activating, eagerly showing off their gear to the less fortunate. Our man on the ground was accused of "showing off" while emailing on his own Pre, but hey, we had to send an email. What could we do?
Updates:
50 people in line at the Sprint store in Honolulu, thanks to Aaron for sending in a pic!
posted June 6th 2009 9:24AM
I don't have an iPhone, BB Storm, or Palm Pre, nor have I used any smartphone for any extended period of time. I am a techie though, and I follow the waves of technology even if I am not riding them. I came back from a Radio Shack after playing around with the Pre, and I am quite impressed. Screen is good, keys seemed small but workable, the slideout was kind of sharp- I felt that you could potentially cut yourself along the side of the device. But my, oh my, those cards are SLICK. The ability to just open up apps, switch through them at will and toss 'em away if you screwed up, it is so graceful. The interface looks great and it is intuitive. I picked up the phone and just started going- I was switching through apps as though it was second nature. It looks like an incredible device and I have a feeling the hype is just beginning. Once word gets around that people just love using the phone and feel so productive using it, the iPhone has some stiff competition until they are able to let their apps switch back and forth quickly and easily. The Pre is truly a smartphone and deserving of the name. And this comes from only 15 minutes of use.
In case any one in Southen California is still looking, most RadioShacks in the Long Beach area still have some in stock, just got mine in Seal Beach and they had 2 left.
I went to the Sprint store in San Pedro today and they told me no one in the area had taken delivery of any phones? Hrmmm....
I just played with a Pre for about 5 minutes at a Radio Shack in Miami, FL. They only had 2 in stock and the guy next to me was buying one.
For starters I am not an iPhone owner, but have used my friends. The comment someone posted earlier is true, the screen on the Pre is not as bright and vivid as the iPhone. Maybe the brightness wasn't turned up, but I'm just reporting what I experienced. In addition, the movement was sluggish as I slid through the various screens. I was actually a bit surprised about both these issues. I have been a proponent of the Pre and have been waiting with bated breath for it to come out. I have to confess I was a bit let down. I say this sincerely, maybe my expectations were way too high. The device did feel very nice in the hand. The keyboard felt like an upgraded Centro keyboard, which felt good, but not great. The sliding action is so-so and is not feel real precise. Oh, and the camera seemed to work very nicely -- and was as reported, no lag when taking photos. That is a big plus for a camera phone.
I'm a Centro owner, so if I stay with Sprint, I'd still upgrade to this phone, but if the new iPhone is too good to pass up, I may go over to one of the carriers I loathe the most.
your a centro user, why are you not using an iphone already.
@grigsby1
Because I'm waiting for them to get it right -- and come Monday, I'll find out if they have.
and i think from what ms has said about zune intergration on there phone with wm 7 i think we will deff see a nphone that may not be zunehd but it will be made by htc that is everything zunehd is with a phone as its base
i just sat down with one for a while........ not flaming, just reporting... but its unusable for me. (full disclosure: i own an iphone)
the keys are just WAAAAAY too close together. typing is impossible. i tried for several minutes to hammer out a single sentence. my fingers are big though, so maybe its just me... but i did see another person with the same issue.... didnt stare at their hands, but they were much smaller than mine.
Muhaha i had a iphone... I gave it to my wife..... she gets so pissed at it. hahah she was try her email for her class... NOPE!. man i might just have to sell it. It really sucks up here in AK.
I took her nokia 6555. awesome phone. Sinked bluetooth in a flash. had pics on it in no time!
iphone. Nope and Nope. what a pieace of junk..
My axium 51v 5.1 is easier to sink the iphone 3G.
Come on sprint up to AK and gives us a real phone! : )
Did anyone else find this comment incomprehensible?
I tried getting one today in Tucson and all the stores said they only got 1 or 2 and they were all sold out by like 10:00am. I think the guy at the sprint store said they got 200 for all the sprint stores town. lame.
Great pictures! But people seem not to be so amazed as when they received the iphone: http://itcenter.vn/bv/di-dong/smartphone/palm-pre-da-chinh-thuc-den-tay-nguoi-dung/6886/
I'm not posting this to start a debate or have people bashing people but I have to agree with what's being said by a few people before me: This phone, as well as any new "revolutionary" phone that comes out, just advances the entire line of phones out there. For background, I think that the iPhone is one of the greatest all around gadgets ever created. It has some of the greatest tools available and did a "Matrix" to the cellular phone world. I will never take any credit away from Apple for doing so. The reasons that I won't own one are pretty easy; I don't have a need for my phone to have so many roles. I have an mp3 player already and a laptop and a scientific calculator. While it's awesome that the iPhone does all of those things plus much, much more, the benefit doesn't outweigh the cost for me, meaning, I don't need them, so why would I pay extra for them. I use a windows mobile device solely because I am a developer and can fix any issues that I've ever come across. I really like the idea of the WebOS because it takes what Android set out to do by opening up the cellular operating system to everyone and opens it up even further. (that being said based on what Palm released when it first started announcing the Pre release). I think I've been pretty clear for anyone that actually reads/acknowledges/gives a crap about, anything I have written that to me, different phones appeal to different folks. All that crap being said, what happens next? If the iPhone comes out Monday with a slide out keyboard or anything that the Pre has, then it's just copying Palm? Then if the iPhone comes out with 10k new apps and RIM opens their app store to developers, they're copying Apple? Where does it ever end?
One thing I would like to see, just for comparison, is the cost of advertising leading up to release of first-generation iPhone vs. Pre and the ratio of sales to that cost. That's not to fan the flames, that's just because I'm curious and can't find the data online and I'm a geek. ;)
Called by local Best Buy in Battle Creek Michigan about 2 PM today and they had a waiting list of 40 people, with only 9 units coming per week.
I was the second in line at best buy it wasn't to bad got there at 920 sat next to the first guyand just chilled they only had three phones and there was a couple more people and they went to the other bestbuy mobile in the mall like a block away. I love this phone l. It works flawlessly. you was concerned about the keys since I have big finger but actually its very nice. My opinion some will agree some won't. Can't wait for more apps. Btw type this all on the pre this phone is great lol
The update to WebOS 1.0.2 increase the battery life considerably.
Wait 'till you guys the see the faces of those people, after the new iPhone gets announced on monday
check out this sweet site for wallpapers www.prewallpapers.com
I got my pre after about a 2 hour wait at a Sprint Store in Chicago. After upgrading to 1.02 the phone is very impressive. There are still some much needed changes to synergy, but l think they have done a solid job creating a similar touch experiancr to the iphone. I own a ipod touch and don't expect the pre to replace it entirely, but feel I won't carry it nearly as much. The web is awesome and the ease of looking up a contact to call, text, or email far out weighs the iphone, but still come short when compared to windows mobile. The keyboard is acceptable, not as good as the dash or a blackberry. Just my thoughts after one day.
Standing outside for a phone....
I know the economy is bad and everything but...don't people have jobs anymore?
It's Saturday.
FWIW I was in the mall today (in Portland, OR) at 5pm and the Sprint store there still had several in stock. I played with it for a few minutes and it seems fine, but I'm sticking with my iPhone :-)
My coverage so far:
- http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2009/06/06/palm-pre-launch/
- http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2009/06/06/unboxing-the-palm-pre/
- http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2009/06/06/remote-erase-bricks-palm-pre/
Well, I tried to get one, I been a long time Sprint Customer and just hate AT&T but own a ipod touch and love it, except the key board. But the Palm Pre is yet still not yet in my hand. I went to a Sprint store and they only had 60 in stock all sold out in a few hours. I went to Best Buy and the mobile guys there told me that they only had 3 in stock and that was it. I live in the heart of Silicon Valley and a few minutes from Apple HQ and also not far from PALM. I guess that in the back yard it wasn't that Great. The Best Guy guys told me that the only thing special they did was put a new sign on the window, plus they knew they only had 3 in stock and had a lot of people ask for the Pre there. I guess it's sort of bad that people want something but can't buy it. Now I am forced to wait for Apple's new iphone announcement and will actually take a good look at it since I didn't lock myself into a 2 year contract.
I thought that Palm would be better prepared to handle the demand but I guess in some parts of the country there just wasn't that much and living the Valley it was sort of a nice to have for Sprint people that never got an iphone.
Well wait for Apple's WWDC to see what they put now.
This is my first post or tweet ever. I read them from time to time to check sentiments and/or opinions but never post.
I want to comment on a couple of things. First I have owned several smartphones over the last 7 years and there was always a want,need,desire or hunger for more. Enter the Pre. I can finally have my cake and eat it too. Is is overall better than the I-phone?For me it is ,but that will NOT be the case for everyone ,however it will be able to hold its on. I think that is what Palm was trying to accomplish. I dont see a single company or entity replacing Apple or Rimm for that matter. It will be happen gradually and consumers taste will evolve and change. There will always be loyal consumers who support their brands. This is a part of capitalism. I digress
I had an I-phone...beautiful piece of technology but it was not for me because I never owned or needed an I-pod. and I am in front of a computer most of the day and that IS the best way to surf the web. If I want music I play it on PC. What I did need is a calendar,contacts,a to-do list,appointment reminders,birthday reminders, a PC phone user experience that could intergrate all those and access to 3rd party emails. BUT I didnt get this with BB in the way I wanted. I had that with a Treo but the technology was so dated. I flirted with BB and dated Apple for almost 2 years. Finally with the Pre there is a marriage. It does what I NEED it to do for me with class. I will not front Apple may still be best in class,but the Pre is a VERY close 2nd. If the APP store had more content it would be all about the PRE. PERIOD. Apple really could have cornered the market had they NAILED it with I-phone first generation. I hate that I had to wait a year or 2 for things like turn by turn GPS,cut and paste,outlook support intergration, etc. HATED It.
Another thing Apple has a smugness about them and they try to spin information and most people "Accept" it as gospel. I travel a lot and turn by turn GPS is a must. I had to carry my sexy I-phone with the technology but not the functionality with me AND a Tom Tom. I dont care about battery life. I have a travel charger and car charger.BUT Apple and co said it was not needed and tried to sell us on the pseudo-GPS they 'had" until now. Rimm had this and even Palm in the Palm Treo Pro. Again I-phone is a good phone but it falls short in the area I need it to be "best in class" in.
Well that's my two cents. We finally have choices and as consumers that's all we really need. I hope they all innovate and push the smartphone market to limit. Long live Palm,Apple,RIMM,WinMo,G-phone,Nokia,etc
Maybe now that Sprint has the Pre out of their system, they can get around to making a phone that I actually would want. Here's hoping for an Android phone, preferably with an unmodified Donut build instead of something packed with Sprint "value-adds".
Got mine Sat morning. Line up of people at Best Buy in Michigan at the mall. Sprint store inside. Figured I would go inside even though all the stores were closed still, they open the mall before the stores so people can walk around. Got near the Sprint store and noticed the lights on and ballons etc. Walked up and was a few people inside and they still had 24 left. I got 2 and was out of there before Best buy even opened yet and still people standing outside. Guess no one knew Sprint was opening early inside for this. I was going to tell the line up as I was leaving that sprint inside had 24 left as i waved my 2 out the window but didnt.
So far, I love the phone. Used an Iphone before, and thought that was sweet as well. Could not tell you which was better because only breifly used the iphone. Its all going to come down to the apps IMO. Which I think palm only has 18 right now. Great phone though. Works fine for me and only had a minor problem setting one of them up. Had purchased it on another line on my account that was eligible for the 150 rebate, and then switched it when I got home over to my line which is not eligible till Aug. (this negates the 100 mail in rebate though, but I usually misplace them and never send them in anyway. that and the mail in expires in july so did not matter if I waited). Something got stuck and it could not make or recieve calls but everything else worked, web etc. Phone was still showing orig line number and never switched over even though on sprints end it was. Little bit of them figuring out what to do as simple resets and reboots did not work and they got it working. Been flawless since.
For the guy that tried it in the store and said it scrolled slow and was not smooth. I can only think that since it was a demo unit it had been fooled around so much without restarting it for awhile that was slowing it down. Mine runs smooth.
gotta go w/ the touchstone.
Jesus Christ! United Statesians sure do eat a lot.
I have had the htc touch diamond since November, and really hated it.
I bought the pre yesterday morning and I really like it and the potential it has.
A few short comings I hope will be worked out quickly - I used to use the diamond web browser to go to a favoriate radio station and listen to the streaming there - the pre browser doesnt seem to support that.
Also, the diamond would sync for me while connected to my computer and still could take calls, I dont think the pre works that way.
The usability otherwise is no comparision to the diamond - it is so much better.
Hmmm, I dont think I am ready to trade in my IPhone 3G just yet. Not quite.
RT
www.Absolute-Anonymity.com
Man this sucks, i want one. u guys suck!!! :(
That is the saddest product launch in the history of technology. Its one thing to copy a product and do it better,a completely different thing to copy a "marketing event" and abjectly FAIL. You cannot duplicate widespread charisma for anything. Either the masses are enamoured or not. Looks like a great phone but trying to jump in the ring and box with Apple is a big mistake.
Humility and leading by example is Palm's core ompetency,not seling majic in a bottle.
Sad really freakin sad. Tha,t its even on Engadget with pics of just a handful of people countrywide is an embarrasment.
Nice stock to short on mon morning.
If Sprint releases a new phone and iPhone users don't care (because they already have a superior product) does the snort the dorks buying this piece of crap (with which they will be disappointed in 6 months and wish they had waited for the new iPhone) do when they laugh still make a sound?
I was first in line at a local Best Buy after camping out starting at 2am. Took advantage of the instant rebate they had to offer. For anyone that actually uses this phone, Palm has clearly successfully redefined their place in the market. I love it... and just can't put it down!
Sure their app store selection is a tad bare, but that will change soon. Apps for WebOS are easy to produce and the platform is far more impressive than I had hoped. Sprint's network and service plans kick butt, and makes browsing on the Pre not only usable, but extremely enjoyable. Flash will be available very soon, and once there's an SSH or remote management app for us network engineers, I'll be complete.
Only downpoints I have are (1) the battery power remains a bit on the low side (but I am on it non stop all day, which probably has something to do with it... hehe... so I hope there's an extended battery coming out), and (2) while 8 gigs is plenty for me, 32 would have been preferred, and it should have been expandable.
That being said, I can live with 8 gigs until the next version comes out, which I will without a doubt drop some cash on. Thank you Palm!
Bravo.
Picked up a Pre in the Colorado Springs Sprint store. Someone mentioned they started with a low hundred number of Pres (which I took to mean just over 100 not multiple hundreds) and had sold over half when I picked mine up at about noon on Saturday.
The purchase and activation process was surprisingly smooth. It was a very pleasing experience, actually.
The store was busy with people, but I didn't see many picking up Pres. The limited advertising seems to have worked in that capacity. And this seems to make sense to me. Palm can:
1. Invest a smaller amount of money on the initial production (because they don't have a lot)
2. Satisfy the small base of people that are following the phone and are looking at the first half of the year release date
3. Get a base of early adopters to use the phone and provide feedback so they can get bugs/quirks worked out in the software
4. Ramp up advertising and start getting the phone into the mainstream consumers' hands
I went to the Sprint Store in my area, and best buy. I showed up to best buy @ 9:30 (30 minutes before they opened) and nobody was there. After waiting for 20 minutes (9:50am) the best buy rep says that brand new, the phone costs 849.99. I left, since I was thinking about purchasing the phone without any rebates (I still have a year left). I went to the sprint store. They wanted 549.99. MUCH more reasonable, but not enough to sway me. I'm not allowed to receive the $100 mail in rebate, and of course, I'm not allowed to have the other contract rebate (I currently own the touch diamond, which i despise for it's unresponsiveness, sluggishness, and difficult to use as a touch screen phone).
Of course, Sprint had PLENTY in stock. got there, and though the store was busy, it didn't have the "insanity" of the iphone launch, nor any of the PS3's, Xbox 360's, Nintendo Wii's. At first, I was happy, because this guaranteed me a spot for the phone.
Then I realized why it wasn't such a huge hit:
Pricing and some of the short comings. To pay $550, I wouldn't mind so much as I can probably sell my Touch Diamond Phone (in amazing condition) for approximately 200, which gives me $350 to spend on that phone. Having that $100 mail in rebate will sure help as I'll then spend only $250. But since I'm "not qualified" for either rebates, I have to purchase the phone outright for $550.
And having the phone for $350 ($550-$200) almost did it for me... (Yes, I hate the touch diamond THAT much...). Then I heard the awful news: I cannot transfer my SERO plan for use with the Palm Pre. I have to DOUBLE my monthly payment. Yes, I am signed up for the $49/mo SERO plan, which entitles me to 1250 minutes, Unlimited Texting, Data (Internet), Nights Starts @ 7pm, free weekends, mobile-2-mobile, etc., except NO navigation (Which I have my Garmin Device for). 1250 was barely enough minutes for me. I saw the new plans that I had to sign up for, and I laughed. 69.99 for 450 minutes, and everything I already have. What a joke. That's when I gave up my spot for the SECOND time, and left. Good thing I didn't waste any "camping" on this phone. Though I did play around with the phone for a little bit, i did notice a FEW things:
Build quality (though very plastic) wasn't as bad as I thought. The sliding mechanism was good too. It felt solid. The touch screen feels good and responsive, but it seemed difficult at times to throw the "cards" away (as the video points out). Bringing the bottom menu up seems to be VERY sluggish too. Multiple times, I drag the bottom up, and gave up, because I didn't see anything following my finger. As soon as I gave up, the bar came up and disappeared, as if I had to hold it longer. People were right. This phone is pretty sluggish, but NOT as sluggish as my touch diamond. Where the iPhone is 10/10 in terms of responsiveness and fluidity, this phone is about a 6/10 and the touch diamond... well is about a 2/10 AT BEST.
Then, another issue arisen: You cannot sync your palm pre with your exchange server, if it does not have a SSL signature. EVEN THE iPHONE and ALL MY PALM PHONES previously gave me the option to use SSL or not. WTF. Now I cannot sync with my business exchange server unless my server is signed.
Sorry Palm, but too many deal breakers. I'll have to see what iPhone rolls out on the 8th so I can jump ship. You almost had me at hello.